Hogwarts Fanfiction Challenges
by LunaPrinBeauty
Summary: A collection of one-shots depicting various Fanfiction Challenges. 1. Remus enlists the help of a friend to prepare a meal without magic while his parents are working overtime.


**Author's Note**: Hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: The following characters, except for one, which is of my creation, belong to J.K. Rowling!

**Hogwarts**: Assignment #10 Muggle Cultures Task #2: Cuisines: a cuisine is a specific set of cooking traditions and practices, often associated with a specific culture. Prompt: Write about someone preparing a traditional meal.

**Word Count**: 2,794 (According to Google Docs. That's without the Author's notes, chapter title, and day/month/year tag.)

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**Learning to Cook with Remus Lupin**

**22, December 1975**

The sound of the doorbell prompted Remus to look up from his Transfiguration Essay, which he had been working on for the past hour. He groaned as he stood up, having developed a few sore joints from sitting in the same position for an extended period. As he passed by the mirror that hung above the mantle, he stopped to study his appearance and tried to flatten the cow-lick that had sprung atop his head. After a few moments, he gave up attempting to make his hair behave. The Ministry was adamant about underage witches and wizards not being allowed to use magic outside of school unless it was an emergency, and Remus was certain a cow-lick didn't count as such.

The doorbell rang again and Remus realized that he was keeping the person outside waiting longer than necessary. After a quick eye sweep around the living room to make sure it appeared presentable enough, he opened the front door to see Eve standing before him. A cheerful grin was set upon her lips, making her blue-green eyes crinkle in the corners. Remus' lips twitched in amusement at the cow-lick that had made itself at home atop her wavy hair.

"Looks like we both have the same taste in hairstyles!" Her eyes traveled to the unruly piece of hair that was sticking up atop the young wizard's head and her eyes twinkled with mirth.

Leave it to Eve to break the ice by saying something silly. Laughing, Remus opened the door wider to let her in. It wasn't the first time Eve had visited his home since he had moved eleven years ago after one horrible night had left him with a curse that would affect him and those around him for the rest of his life. But it was the first time she had visited his house for the Christmas holidays.

"Thanks for letting me stay here." Eve unwound her scarf and removed her coat, revealing a very traditional ugly green Christmas sweater containing a picture of a niffler wearing a Santa Claus hat.

Remus took the coat and scarf and hung them for her on the coat rack beside the front door. He forced himself to take a few deep breaths, hoping that Eve wouldn't notice him fidgeting.

_Why am I acting this way? It's not the first time she's spent the night at my house._

He stole a glance at her, opening his mouth to say something when the phone rang. Remus' shoulders relaxed. It was just as well he was interrupted before he could say something foolish.

"That's probably my mum." He stepped into the kitchen to answer the phone.

"Tell her I said hi!" Eve called as she sat down on the brown and green plaid sofa and began pulling off her wool gloves.

Remus leaned against the doorway that separated the living room from the kitchen and brought the phone to his ear.

"Lupin residence, Remus speaking."

"Remus, honey…" As predicted, his mother was on the other end. His father, who worked at the Ministry, would have sent an owl instead.

"Hi, Mum!" Remus looked at the clock on the wall, which displayed the time as ten after five. "Is everything all right?"

"Everything is fine, dear." Remus could have sworn he heard her sigh. "Listen, I know I was supposed to get off at six, but it seems there's been a rush in last-minute Christmas shoppers. I'm going to have to stay behind until at least eight, maybe even nine. Do you…." Her voice trailed off.

"What is it?" Remus could detect the exhaustion in his mother's voice. The holidays were always especially hard on her. He could only hope that her boss would give her this Christmas Day off as she hadn't had one in three years.

"Would you mind making dinner? I know it's a lot to ask, but I don't know if I'll have the energy to cook when I get home."

Remus didn't need to be asked twice. He would do anything for his mum. "Of course!" He didn't bother asking his mum if she had heard from his dad. The Ministry was busier than ever these days and Lyall Lupin rarely ever came home before nine o'clock. Sometimes he didn't walk through the front door until after eleven.

"Thank you, honey. I knew I could count on you." Remus felt his cheeks redden. "Now, there should be some chicken in the fridge. You could probably do something with that and I'm sure I bought some vegetables the other day. I think they're in the cupboard. I think there's enough seasoning. Oh and-"

Remus cut her off, knowing that she could go on for hours if allowed. "It'll be fine, Mum. Try not to overwork yourself too much. Oh and...Eve says hello."

"Give her my love. Oh, and Remus, try not to burn down the kitchen." It was her attempt at a little joke at the end.

"I'll be cooking with Eve, not James and Sirius. I don't think there will be much to worry about this time." Remus was sure that he would a less disastrous time with Eve than with his latter two friends. All three of them were pure-bloods, but Eve was more sensible and less liable to start a fire.

He said good-bye to his mother and hung up the phone before running his fingers through his hair. It wasn't the first time he had cooked dinner by himself, but he couldn't help wondering the same for Eve. He poked his head into the living room.

"Eve?" She looked up from the gardening magazine that she had been flipping through while he was on the phone. "How much do you know about cooking?"

She set the magazine on the glass surface of the pine coffee table. "You mean Muggle cooking?" He nodded. "Er…" She ran her hands through her dark-brown hair, snagging a few tangles on the way. "I can make ham and cheese sandwiches." She smiled sheepishly.

Remus chuckled. It came of no surprise that Eve didn't have any cooking experience. Her parents most likely used magic to help them when it came to cooking. Then when they were away at school, there was no need to cook either because the food just appeared out of thin air, courtesy of the house-elves in the kitchen.

"Do you want to learn? It's really easy." Not to mention, it would be more fun than her just sitting on the couch while he did all the work.

"I might burn down the kitchen." She looked away and bit down on her bottom lip.

"You won't because you're not James or Sirius." He could almost see his two best friends glaring at him indignantly as he 'slandered' their good names and the image made him chuckle.

Eve grinned and stood up. "Well, I suppose when you put it that way…" She joined him in the kitchen, which was felt small with two people.

Remus reached into the cupboard and handed Eve a frilly pale-yellow and white gingham patterned apron and took out a plain navy-blue apron for himself.

"This is so adorable!" Eve pulled the frilly apron over her head and tied it at the back.

Remus' cheeks turned a light shade of pink at how cute Eve looked, but he managed to tear his eyes away from her. Something more than friendship with her or any other girl, for that matter, was out of the question. A romantic relationship for a werewolf was impossible. It would only be a matter of time before he turned on her and ruined what they already had.

For now, he would push those thoughts to the back of his mind and focus only on the current task at hand, which was preparing a decent meal for his parents to come home to and enjoy.

"Could you get the package of chicken out of the fridge and the potatoes and carrots from the cupboard?"

Eve saluted him playfully and began to grab what was needed. While she did that, he gathered the dishes that would be needed to help prepare the meal.

"Do you know anything about peeling potatoes or carrots?" Eve shook her head, bewilderment on her face. Remus should have known that was a stupid question to ask. "Come over here." He steered her toward the sink and pulled out four carrots and four large potatoes and dropped them into the sink, letting the water run over them to clean them.

"Luckily, we have a peeler." He picked up the utensil to show her. "It's much easier and safer than using a knife and potentially cutting yourself. What you'll want to do is hold the potato in one hand like this." He demonstrated by picking up the potato and holding it in his left hand. "Then, you hold the peeler where it's resting between your thumb and middle finger. Use your pointer finger to hold it in position."

Eve nodded, encouraging Remus to continue. "When you peel, you want to move the blade upwards, away from you, like this." He began to peel part of the potato. "Don't worry about going too fast. It's better to take your time. The same method can be used for the carrots, although they're usually a lot easier to peel." He handed her the partially peeled potato. "Are you sure you got all that?"

Eve picked up the potato peeler and examined it closely. "Amazing the types of inventions Muggles come up with to make up for not being able to use magic." She turned the peeler over in her hands, her eyes twinkling with wonder.

"Now I know what I'm getting you for your birthday," he teased, earning a nudge from the Hufflepuff.

Trusting Eve to handle the vegetables by herself, Remus washed his hands thoroughly before beginning to cut the fat from the chicken, using a broad knife. He then cut the pieces of chicken down the middle to create separate strips.

"How long have you known how to cook?" Eve asked, tilting her head at him.

Remus looked up from the chicken, his forehead wrinkling for a few seconds as he drummed his fingers on the counter. "My mum started teaching me when I was around seven. Although, she didn't start letting me use the stove until I was ten, and even then she wouldn't allow me to use it unless she was in the kitchen with me." He looked towards the sink to see how she was doing with the peeling and winced slightly to see that she was peeling in small chunks.

"Are you having trouble?" He approached her to get a better look at what she was doing.

"Well…" Her cheeks flushed. She looked down into the sink and at the tiny peelings and chunks of potato that had come off in her attempts. "I guess I do need a little help."

Remus stood behind her, slightly off to the side and grabbed both of her hands to help her steady the potato and peeler. He was vaguely aware of the closeness of her and resisted the urge to breathe in the scent of her hair. But even breathing regularly, he still caught the fruit-scented shampoo that she used, as well as the smell of earth and grass that always seemed to cling to her from her constant excursions outside. Even with the few inches of separation between them, he could still feel her body heat radiating through that ugly Christmas sweater, which was slowly starting to grow on him. Her hands, even though damp from their recent washing, were still soft as he guided the peeler over the potato with her, struggling to keep his thoughts strictly platonic. He was just a friend helping another friend...a very pretty friend, one that he had known since he was three-years-old.

"This is just like in those cliche romantic movies." Eve's sudden words brought him out of his daydream.

"How do you mean?" Should I let go now and let her continue on her own?

"I mean, there's always a scene where the girl doesn't know how to do something properly, so the guy stands really close behind her and holds her while guiding her hands. It's in about eighty-percent of all romantic movies out there."

He couldn't help tickling her left side, making her giggle. "Oh, so I'm cliche, aren't I?"

"N-No!" She gasped between giggles and cringed away from him. "Come on, you know I'm ticklish there!"

Remus smirked. "That's why I do it." She continued to squirm away but was laughing hysterically as his fingertips vigorously ran over her side. "Who's cliche? Who's cliche?"

"Yo-You st-still are!" She struggled to push him away, but even though the skinniest of his friends, he still had enough strength to hold her. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, okay! You're not cliche!"

Remus grinned triumphantly and let her go. "See? Was that so hard?" He chuckled as she huffed at him and turned back to work on peeling the rest of the potatoes and carrots.

Seeing that Eve had finally gotten the hang of peeling, Remus returned his attention to the chicken. Once he had it cut up into thin strips with no trace of fat left on them, he dropped the pieces into a large mixing bowl where he began adding an assortment of spices and herbs: including lemon pepper, salt, a small amount of paprika, and basil.

"Do you want to mix all of that while I chop up the potatoes and carrots?" Remus looked up at Eve who had just finished chopping and peeling.

"How do I do that?" Eve quickly washed her hands once again.

"Just use your hands to mix the seasoning in really well. You don't have any small cuts on your hands do you?"

Eve checked both her hands over before shaking her head. The young witch and wizard traded places and Remus grabbed a clean chopping board to use for the vegetables while Eve sank her hands into the raw pieces of chicken.

"Ewwww, it feels so weird!" But her expression was one of pure joy as she began to move her hands around to mix the spices into the chicken. "But also nice at the same time."

Remus chuckled, unable to resist thinking that her enthusiasm was rather cute. "We'll sear the chicken in a skillet first to get it nice and crispy on the outside and cooked just enough on the inside. Then, we'll put it in the oven with the vegetables for the last ten or so minutes so that the seasonings mix in with the potatoes and carrots.

"My mouth is practically watering already." Eve smiled as she set the bowl of mixed chicken aside and stepped towards the sink again to wash her hands.

A few minutes later, Remus had the vegetables baking in the oven and the chicken browning in a skillet with a small amount of oil. "You don't want the heat on too high, or else the chicken will overcook and get dry. You'll want it to have just enough juiciness in the end."

"So chicken isn't one of those things you can have rare like you could with a steak?" Eve asked, peering over Remus' shoulder at the chicken.

"Merlin's beard, no! You try to eat chicken rare and it'll make you sick faster than a troll's fart would! There should be no pink part left in the chicken when it's done cooking."

"That's a lovely comparison." Eve's lips twitched as she snickered. "Sicker than a troll's fart."

"It was the only thing I could think of," Remus muttered as he flipped the chicken over to let it cook on the other side.

While Eve didn't do much in terms of helping to cook the meal, she was still great company, telling jokes and stories, making Remus laugh. He even let her transfer the chicken from the skillet to the baking dish with the vegetables to let it cook a little more.

"Now that you seem to know a little bit about preparing chicken and vegetables, next time I'll teach you how to prepare a whole turkey." Remus grinned at her, reaching forward to playfully tug on her hair.

"Do you even know how to prepare a turkey by yourself?"

She had caught him. "No, but I'll learn so that I can teach you."

He felt her smile all the way down to the pit of his stomach. When they were finally able to sit down and taste the food, they discovered that it was one of the most delicious meals they had ever tasted, made better by the company that they shared together.


End file.
